Description
Proud Match by Kakulu Saggiaktok
KAKULU SAGGIAKTOK
1940-2020
I like to draw birds, Sedna, seals and beluga whales. They are the most fun and I really enjoy seeing them in the wild.
It’s always a good feeling when you see your art work published and know that people appreciate it. -Kakulu Saggiaktok
Kakulu was born in 1940 on board the Hudson’s Bay Company supply ship, Nascopie. Her family had travelled from south Baffin Island to hunt and trap in the northern regions of the island. Kakulu was a child when she moved back to the Cape Dorset area.
Kakulu began to draw in the early 1960’s when the West Baffin Co-operative established its printmaking studios. Many of her images explore the theme of transformation, with animals blending into other animals, humans becoming animals and vice versa. This is a predominant subject in traditional Inuit folklore and Kakulu Saggiaktok mythology, where the natural and supernatural worlds were mediated by the shaman. Kakulu’s work is always imaginative and often playful and charming and much of her inspiration comes from her childhood memories of living on the land.
Kakulu’s mother was Ikayukta (deceased), also one of the early contributors to the annual print collections from Cape Dorset. Kakulu was married to Saggiaktok (deceased), who was a printmaker in the stonecut studio for many years.
This Proud Match by Kakulu Saggiaktok is a great example of her imaginative, playful and charming treatment of the transformation theme. See also Seals by Kakulu Saggiaktok if you like Proud Match by Kakulu Saggiaktok
Biography Kakulu Saggiaktok
KAKULU SAGGIAKTOK (SAGIATUK; QAQULUK; KAKOOLOOK; KAKULOOK)
Date of Birth: February 14, 1940
Place of Birth: Cape Dorset
Mother: Ikayukta Saggiaktuk (deceased)
Father:
Male/Female: Female
“Because I am not very old, I don’t usually draw the old ways but in my mind I would like to. Because I am not very old I don’t really remember. I was born on the ship, the Nascopie, when my parents were travelling around Baffin Island. I don’t remember much about those early years but I have one memory of being taken by canoe from the ship to the land by a white man.”
– Kakulu Saggiatok
Cape Dorset Print Catalogue, 1978.
Kakulu was born in 1940 on the Hudson’s Bay Company’s supply ship, “Nascopie” en route from Clyde River to Pangnirtung. At that time, her parents and older brother were members of a small group of Inuit who travelled from south Baffin Island to trap and hunt furs in the northern regions of the Island.
Kakulu began to draw in the early 1960’s when the newly established co-operative introduced its graphic arts project. Her style has evolved considerably over the years. She is represented in this year’s (2000), collection with two prints – “Vision Quest” (2000-2) and “Myth of Creation” (2000-3). Both of these illustrating her playful and yet sophisticated sense of imagery.
Kakulu’s mother was Ikayukta, a well-known graphic artist (now deceased). Her older brother was Qavaroak Tunnillie, a well-known and prolific sculptor (now deceased). She is married to Saggiaktok, who for many years was a printmaker in the stonecut studio. He would frequently proof and edit those images by Kakulu which had been chosen for stonecut prints. They live in Cape Dorset with their four children. She continues to develop her own unique style of expression, and participates in workshops offered by the Kinngait Studios. She is represented in 2001 print collection by an etching and aquatint entitled, “Hot Pot” (2001-2002), which she conceived direly onto the etching plate during one of the Co- operative’s continuing series of workshops in association with Studio PM of Montreal.*
*West Baffin Eskimo Co-op, 2000-2001.
EXHIBITIONS:
1966, 1970, 1971, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2011, 2014
Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection)
(illustrated catalogue)
June – July 1967
4th National Burnaby Print Show Burnaby Art Society
Burnaby, British Columbia
1970
Graphic Art by Eskimos of Canada: First Collection Cultural Affairs Division, Department of External Affairs, Canada
Ottawa,Ontario
(tour) (illustrated catalogue)
October – November 1973
Sculpture Inuit: 25 Years After Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec Montreal, Quebec
1975 – 1979
We Lived by Animals, Nous Vivions des Animaux Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development in cooperation with the Department of External Affairs Ottawa, Ontario
(tour)
(illustrated catalogue)
1977
The Contemporary Eskimo Prints and Sculpture Amon Carter Museum of Western Art
Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.A.
(illustrated catalogue)
July – August 1981
Eskimo Games: Graphics and Sculpture/Giuochi Eschimesi: grafiche e sculture
National Gallery of Modern Art
Rome, Italy
(illustrated catalogue)
May 1991
Inuit Music in Art: Singing and Dancing and Playing Feheley Fine Arts
Toronto, Ontario
November – December 1991
Art Inuit: Autour de la Collection de Cape Dorset 1991 Presented by l’Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai
At Le Colombier
Ville D’Avray, France
December 1991 – March 1992
In Cape Dorset We Do It This Way: Three Decades of Inuit Printmaking
McMichael Canadian Art Collection
Kleinburg, Ontario
(illustrated catalogue)
June – July 1992
Women of the North: An Exhibition of art by Inuit Women of the Canadian Arctic
Marion Scott Gallery
Vancouver, British Columbia
(illustrated catalogue)
May – June 1994
Cape Dorset Revisited – a collection of previously unreleased prints, exhibited at several commercial galleries, organized by
West Baffin Eskimo Co-op
Cape Dorset, Northwest Territories
May 1994 – July 1995
Cape Dorset Revisited
McMichael Canadian Art Collection Kleinburg, Ontario
(illustrated catalogue)
May – September 1995
Keeping Our Stories Alive: An Exhibition of the Art and Crafts from the Dene and Inuit of Canada
Institute of American Indian Arts Museum
Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S.A.
(illustrated catalogue)
December 1996 – March 1997
Beelden uit Arctica Canuit
Canadian Eskimo Art Venray, Netherlands
March 1997
Inuit and the Sea Canuit
Canadian Eskimo Art Eindhoven, Netherlands
November 1997
Graphite and Stone
Sculpture and Drawing: Baffin Artists in two mediums Spirit Wrestler Gallery
Vancouver, British Columbia
(illustrated catalogue)
April
Art by Women: An investigation of Inuit Sculpture and Graphics
Feheley Fine Arts
Toronto, Ontario
Nov – Dec 2008
Breaking Ground:
New Oil Stick Drawings from Cape Dorset Feheley Fine Arts
Toronto, Ontario
October, 2009
Mixed Media from Cape Dorset Feheley Fine Arts
Toronto, Ontario
Oct 2009 – Jan 2010
Uuturautiit: Cape Dorset Celebrates 50 Years of Printmaking
National Gallery of Canada
Ottawa, Ontario
(illustrated catalogue)
June 2011
Dorset Large:
Large Scale drawings from the Kinngait Studios Feheley Fine Arts
Toronto, Ontario
(illustrated catalogue)
April – June 2013
Animal Power: Images in Contemporary Inuit Art Marion Scott Gallery
Vancouver, British Columbia
COLLECTIONS:
Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.A.
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia
Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa, Ontario
Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, Quebec
McMaster University Art Gallery, Hamilton, Ontario
McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario
Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario
Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
Simon Fraser Gallery, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia
University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, Lethbridge, Alberta
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba
